Method of forming and arranging castings on elongated mountings



y March 23.,"'1948.

l..l H. MORIN 2,438,348y METHOD OF'v FORMING AND ARRANGING CASTINGS ONAN ELONGATED MOUNTING l Filed June 16, 1944 nATTOFNE Patented Mar. 23,1948 l.UNITED STlAlTE-S 9 Claims.

1 This invention relates to ithe formation .Y and arrangement ofcastings on an elongated mounting member, such as a wire 4or strand.More particularly, the invention comprises a method 'of feeding amounting member and core relatively to each other and together withrespect to'dies movable towardand Vfrom the core and mounting member informing successive diecast'devices longitudinally of the mountingmember,and in controlling the spacing of said devices on the mounting member.V"The novel'features ofthe invention will be best understood from thefollowing descriptionv when taken togetherv with' the accompanyingdrawing, in which certain embodireference characters in each of theviews;l and in which:

Fig. 1 is a' diagrammatic sectional view showing f the step of forming acasting-on a mounting 1.a

member and core.

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1,r showingthe 'dies in open positionand the `rlrst Astep'of feeding a formed casting. out of alinement withthe dies, as well as 'the feed ofthe mounting member relatively tothedies; and

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Figs. 1 and 2, showing the'step of spacingthe-cast' devices'on them'ounting member.

'In 'the production voi' articlesoi manufacture .comprising elongatedmounting members with cast devices arranged longitudinally thereof, Iprovide a method wherein successive cast' devices may 4be formed'onthemounting member, and thenin' the step of feeding the castdevices, in-Vcluding the mounting member relatively to the die, means is provided tofeed or draw the mount- -ing member through the last cast deviceto'space articles of manufacture of Various kinds-"andclasses, includingelongated mounting members, such as electric conductors `or strands of'any type and kind.

In dealing with electric conductors, 'the-cast devices may be in theform of insulators; par-ff ticularly'in producing 'what 'is known ascoaxial cable, where the insulator devices are employed to arrange theconductors within outer tubular "conductors or jackets.

A-In 'the' drawing is shown a :faceJ view offene-'U1' a. die castingmachine. At ll"is"indicated"the cavity or impression of' the die. 7Thecavityl II, conjunction with atubulary core I3-arranged within "thecavity in the 'casting operation, as seen in Fig; 1 'o'f 'the'drawingfserves vto produce a thimble shaped cast device I2. Y AtIdriswrepresented' the.. gate `on the" partingl iline'of vthe dies,extending into the cavity II, and exposed to a suitable nozzle I 5.for'theine'ction of heatedV casting.v material into the cavity I I, I`asisl commonly known inthe die casting art.

Theftubular .core vIiismounted `on an arm I6, in. which. ,is..arranged agripper bar I1, adapted togrip-.the strandlike mounting member I8, in,the yform.K of.a.corlductory strand. or. kother mounting. ,-,The arm .I6.is. `movable toward' and from'the die YI il inthemannerillustrateddiagrammatically ineElgs. 2,and' 3, .andfabove thisarm is a sta-.tionaryarm4 I9, .havinga movable gripper 20,',the v1purposefofwhich is.to engage them-ountingmember .toxhold thesameagainstmovement in.. cer-`:tain ,stepsx-poiv `the .method, as ,-.more fully. .herein- .zafterffdescribed.

iinfnarryingviout;fmysmethod, metal or plastic .castingsmay beiformed.However, for purposes yofillustraticm,v .ftl'iei present ydescription.-will deal vprimarily with Vthe-formation of plastic castings I2.Startingtwith 'theillustration-.oi Fig.r ,1, the rst step would -beinformingthe castdevice I2 onfthezmounting YI 8r :with :thefcore I3 v.arranged in thexcavity "I.I,:as seenfinithis guregthearm I6 c-ile'ingJ'in lits raised fposition. Immediately after :the: formation v.of :ther.casting,. theV dies will, .be `sepa-rated, the'g-ripper '.20lwill befreed' `from the nzn'reniber, i8; andthepgripper. I1 still Aengaging the:member I'8 isimoveddownwardlyto feed the castingatogether rWitt-tithemember I8 to tha-position illustrated in Fig. 2. .At vthe-endet this.downward rmovement,..the .upper open end 2 I of :the castingf-wilL-=be=;arranged .at the .lower vsurface4 22 of the ,die '-Illfzandithe .rounded end 23I of the lasty ,casting 1; I2-.willbegspacedlfromfthe end, 2| .ofthe previously -formed casting.as.seen insaidfgure. Thedies .are .thenmoved intol a partially closed. position,suiciently` to. bring uthe .lower surface.. v22 ofA the dies intoengagement with the upper edge 2I.of the lastv kcasting 112.and-vwitlrthe.` gripper I 'I ,still ingrm" engagement with the member'IB. The member I`8, together with the core I3 ismoved upwardly to..anslightextent to the f position indiy.cated :iin Fig... 3, .to bringythe ,lower` domedA surffta-ce y23 `of theflast.y castingzintoieng-agement with in Fig. 3, and holds the member I 8 stationarywhile the arm I6 continues on its upward movement until it reaches theposition shown in Fig.

1, after which the grippenlljagan engages vvthe `i5 member I8 inpreparation for the downward feed of the member I8 and the casting,asshown in,

Fig. 2 of the drawing. The above cycle of operation is again repeated informing the next successive casting, and this operation will continue-until all of the required castings have Vbeen formed on theV elongatedmounting member I8. Y

Each casting will have a gate 24 thereon and suitable trimming tools,one of which is diagrammatically illustrated at 25v in Fig. 2 of thedrawing, which will be employedto remove the gate, as indicated.

It will vbe understood 'that my invention is not limited to anyparticular shape or form of cast device. Furthermore, the invention isnot .limited to the particular spacing of the devices on the mountingmember.' as these spacings may be con- Vtrolled by the upward movementof theV arm` I6,

andthe period of releasing the gripper I1 from the'mounting member I8vin this upward movement. In other words, the basis of my presentinvention resides in amethod Awhich controls spacing of castings formedon .a mounting'membe'r'by a feed of the castings after being formed onthe mounting member longitudinally thereof to control the spacing ofcastings along'the mounting member. In some instances,-this spacing maybe varied to produce on the finished product predetermined arrangementof the castings on'v the mounting member. This would be accomplished incontrolling and varying the-feed movement of the arm I6, as illustratedin 1Fig. 3, or the time at which the gripper .I1 Vis released from themounting member in the upward movement of the arm andthe correspondingchangein timeof moving the gripper 2U into operative position.

In connection with this last method'of procedure, it' will also beapparent that in these instances, the castings may be spaced aparton'the mounting member so that the mounting member becomes accessible,thus in using mounting members of exible material, grippers similar tothe gripper could be used below the dies rather than above the dies,during thev free movement of the core along the mounting member.

It will also be apparent that in some instances, groups of castingsorcast devices may be arranged 1 in close proximityrto each other,`whereas other castings or cast'devices may be spaced apart on amounting member or respective groups may be spaced apart, particularlyin producing predetermined lengths of castings on the mounting member.Y- Y Having fully described my invention', what I claim as new anddesire to secure by Letters Pat- `entis:

1..The method of forming articles of manufacture ofthecharacter'described, comprising arrranging anvelongatedmounting memberbetween relatively movable dies and' extending througha 4 Y tubular corearranged between and movable relatively to .said dies, gripping saidmounting member, forming a casting on the mounting member and aroundsaid core, separating the dies, then y moving the core and mountingmember with the casting thereon to a position out of the path ofmovement of said dies, with a surface of the casting arranged adjacentan youter surface of the dies, then partially closing the dies to bringsaid surface of the dies into contact with the surface A of the casting,then moving the core and the mounting member in the oppositedirectionwhile maintaining the casting in stationary position byabutment of the casting with said outer surface vof the dies,'thenreleasing the mounting member yand gripping the same to check furthermovement thereof relatively to the casting, continuing the movement ofthe core to remove the same from the casting and reposition the samebetween.

the dies, and then again closing the dies preparatory to forming thenextA successive casting on said mounting member.' Y

2.'The method of'formllg articles of Ymanufacture of the characterdescribed, comprising ar.-

franging an elongatedvmounting member between relatively movable diesand extending through a tubular core arranged between and movablerelatively to said dies, gripping said mounting member, forming acasting on the mounting member and around said core, separating thedies,

then moving thecore and mounting member with the casting thereon to aposition out of the path of, movement of said'dies, with a surface ofthe casting arranged adjacent an outer surface ofthe dies, thenpartially closing the dies to bring said surface' of the dies'l intocontact with the surface of the casting, then moving the core andthemounting member in the opposite direction while .maintaining the castingin stationary position by abutment of the casting with said outersurface of the dies, then releasing the mounting member and gripping thesame to check further movementthereof vrelatively to the casting,continuing the movement of [the core to remove the same from the castingand reposition the same between Vthe dies, then again closing the diespreparatory toforming the next successive casting .on said mountingmember, and'trimming gate portions from the castings after removal fromsaid dies.

3. The method of forming andY arranging die .castings on an elongatedmounting, which comprises rstrforming a casting on the mounting and on acore arranged longitudinally of themounting, then moving the casting,mounting and core in one direction, then engaging the casting to holdthe same stationary ywhile moving the mounting and core in the oppositedirection to position the casting oni-said mounting member, thengripping the mountingmember and continuing to'move the core relativelyto said member and casting,V

and nally positioning the core on the mounting Y member for thelreception ofthe nextsuccessive casting-"to be formed and positioned onsaid `mounting member. s 4. TheQmethod of Vforming and spacing castingson anelongated mounting member, comprising kthe steps of first arranginga mounting member and a core including a gripper for engaging saidYmember between relatively movable dies, formingy a casting on themember and core, then separating the dies and moving the formedV castingVvby saidcore out ofthe path of movementv ofthe 1 dies with the mountingmember gripped in the core to `move withsaid casting, then engaging :thecasting to support the same ``in stationary position, then moving thecore and the member gripped therein relatively to the casting, thenreleasing the gripping means to free said member from the core andposition the casting on said member, then gripping the member incontinued movement of the core relatively to the casting and member toreposition the core between said dies, and then closing the diespreparatory to the formation of the next successive casting on saidmember.

5. The method of forming and positioning castings longitudinally of anelongated mounting member, which comprises forming a, casting on saidmember in a pair of relatively movable dies, moving the member and thecasting relatively to the dies to free the dies for a succeedingcasting, then moving the member and the casting relatively to each otherby gripping the casting while the member is drawn through it to spacethe casting on the member, and then repeating the foregoing operationsto form a mounting member having spaced castings mounted thereon.

6. 'Ihe method of forming thimble-shaped plastic castings on a metallicstrand, which comprises die casting a thimble-shaped plastic body on thestrand with the cross head of the body engaging said strand and thewalls of the body spaced from and encircling the strand; moving thestrand together with said body thereon so that another body may be caston the strand; then moving said first body relatively to the strand tobring it in close proximity to a previously formed body longitudinallyof the strand; casting another body on the strand adjacent said rstbody; and alternately continuing to move the strand together with eachnewly cast body thereon, to move the newly cast body relatively to thestrand, and to cast successive bodies on the strand in the manner setforth.

7, The method of forming and spacing castings on an elongated mounting,which comprises forming a casting on the mounting and on a 4o Numbercore embracing the mounting, then moving the mounting relatively to thecasting while the casting is still in contact with the core in order tospace the casting on said mounting, the spacing of the casting beingcontrolled by limiting the relative movement between the casting andmounting to a selected distance which is equal to the distanceseparating the casting from a previously formed casting.

8. The method of forming and spacing castings on an elongated mounting,which comprises forming a casting on the mounting and on a coreembracing the mounting, then moving the mounting relatively to thecasting while holding said casting in stationary position and in contactwith said core, and limiting the movement of the mounting relatively tothe casting to a distance which is equal to the distance separating thecasting from a previously formed casting in order to control the spacingof successive castings on said mounting.

9. The method of forming and positioning castings longtudinally of anelongated mounting member, which comprises forming a casting on saidmember, moving the member and the casting relatively to each other tospace the casting on said member, forming a second casting on themember, then moving the member and said second casting relatively toeach other to space the casting on said member, said second castingbeing in engagement with the iirst castmg.

LOUIS H. MORIN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record ln the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Swarovski Apr. 27, 1943 Morin et al.Oct. 9, 1934 Marinsky Mar. 3, 1942

